India says drugs with authentication tech can have price premium

The government of India has
amended its pricing policy for essential medicines to allow
products bearing an authentication technology developed by Bilcare
to carry premium pricing.

The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) has issued a
notification saying that pharmaceutical manufacturers that wish to
make use of Bilcare's nonClonableID anti-counterfeit technology can
charge an addition 1.02 rupees (around 2 cents) per blister pack of
tablet and capsules products.

nonClonableID relies on the application of micro- and
nanoparticulate metallic materials - with unique magnetic and
optical features - that can be added to a product's primary and/or
secondary packaging as well as the label.

The unique, random pattern of the nanoparticles can be read at any
stage in the pharmaceutical supply chain to authenticate packaging
and detect counterfeits or diverted product using a low-cost,
handheld scanner.

The notice notes that the premium can be added provided the
manufacturing and/or marketing companies are prepared to share the
data within the nonClonableID tag with the NPPA.

The NPPA also allows an additional cost of 0.04 rupees per blister
strip of 10 tablets for holograms, and 0.05 rupees per strip for
covert features that are invisible to the naked eye but visible
under ultraviolet light. Other authentication technologies will be
considered on a case-by-case basis, it said.

Drugmakers also get a 100 per cent Maximum Allowable
Post-manufacturing Expenses (MAPE) margin if they use Bilcare's
technology, said a spokesman for the company.

The MAPE allows manufacturers to charge a premium on retail prices
to help cover ex-factory expenses; for example, imported medicines
can typically secure a MAPE of 50 per cent in order to cover
selling and distribution expenses once the product is landed in
India.